AIPAC is now perceived by Washington insiders as a pressure group (like the NRA), primarily allied with the Republicans, which uses its influence to get members of Congress to take positions not in the public interest.

Nobody is saying it's a sure thing or suggesting lifting all sanctions today. Nobody is saying "let's just trust Iran." What serious, responsible people are saying is: This is an opportunity we cannot afford to waste.

Worst of all is the fact that this resolution would empower Israel to make the decision to go to war for us. Israel would decide it feels threatened and we would have to back an attack on Iran with "military force," not to mention all the other forms of support the resolution spells out.

Friedman is saying what everyone knows but no one (of his stature) has had the nerve to say. The opposition to an Iran deal in Congress represents "tak[ing] Israel's side against" the American president's, but it's also about campaign contributions.

The only thing that has changed in Iran since Netanyahu last did his war dance is that Iran has elected a new president who, unlike his radical predecessor, seems determined to tamp down tensions in the region.

Power wanted more in an Obama second term and that required inoculating herself against charges that were made against her in 2008. And so she made the rounds -- visiting neocons, Jewish organizations, and Israeli officials -- and assuring potential adversaries that she was sorry.

I am not one for admitting I am wrong, but sometimes the evidence is so overwhelming that I have to say it. I was wrong. Specifically I have been repeatedly wrong when I said that the Israel lobby could not be defeated unless and until the President of the United States confronted it directly.

As one who believes that the lobby is a bad influence in American life, I suppose I should be glad that the lobby's overreaching is finally being taken note of. On the other hand, I don't like it. The Lobby, despite its claims, does not speak for most American Jews, not by a long shot.

Senator Hagel's confirmation has to await action by the Senate Committee and by the full Senate. But we do not have to wait for confirmation that with respect to the Middle East peace process, the U.S. Congress remains in the grip of the Israel lobby.

While recognizing that war can be necessary, Chuck Hagel understands -- out of both personal experience and practical consequence -- that war is best avoided, if possible. Unlike the war-happy neocons, he sees military force as a last resort.

A dangerous confluence of circumstances has developed in recent years. The pro-Israel community has lost its moral compass. It has done so by valencing "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?" to the exclusion of "And if I am only for myself, then what am I?"